‘Epitome of the American Dream’: Tony Thanoukos’ Hub’s celebrates 50 years in Skokie

Tony Thanoukos was just 16 years old when he emigrated from Greece.

He started as a dishwasher at Café La Cafe, the once-popular and now-closed restaurant in Des Plaines, and worked three jobs before he eventually teamed with his brother in 1976 to buy a small eatery from a man whose wife always called him “hubby,” Tony’s daughter recounted. 

Now, after a series of expansions, more than a hundred menu additions and even Saturday Night Live fame, Hub’s Restaurant, a staple of American barbecue and Mediterranean fare at 3727 Dempster St. in Skokie, is celebrating 50 years in business under Thanoukos. 

“It’s extremely powerful and humbling all at the same time because here’s this man who, he was so young and just hungry — hungry literally and metaphorically — and was able to make it,” said Victoria Thanoukos-Milson, Tony’s daughter, “and he sacrificed what he needed to sacrifice in order for my mom and my brother and my sister and myself to do well.

“And then on top of it, it’s like, ‘Wow he’s celebrating 50 years here,’ and 50 years in a community that writes cards and sends flowers and connects with us. They feel like this is a second home to them.”

The restaurant received honorary recognition from U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th), Gov. JB Pritzker, State Sen. Ram Villivalam and the Village of Skokie for its milestone anniversary. 

Yet a clearer sign of its legacy: The restaurant had multiple lines out the door as far as McCormack Boulevard and Crawford Avenue during a commemorative 50% off promotion earlier this month, said Bill Thanoukos, Tony’s son. 

A family business

Thanoukos-Milson recalled growing up in the restaurant alongside her siblings, so she heard a lot from her father, whom she otherwise described as a man of few words, about how he got started. 

Thanoukos, then 23, was able to purchase the restaurant in part because the seller knew his and his brother John Thanoukos’ work ethic and vouched for them, his daughter said. 

The restaurant apparently struggled at first, and Thanoukos eventually needed to go out looking for a second job. But the very day he did so, Hub’s closed with its first $100 banked in the register and the restaurant continued to grow steadily ever since, Thanoukos-Milson said. 

That success can be, at least in part, attribute to Hub’s both incredibly extensive and consistent menu. 

Though the restaurant started with just 10 menu items when Thanoukos took over, he and his brother added Greek dishes like rotisserie, pastitsio and moussaka — their mother’s recipes — and Hub’s now has 165 items available to order. 

Hub’s chicken arrives every day from the family-owned Harrison’s Poultry, of Glenview, its bread always comes from the same Toronto vendor, and it was a Coca-Cola joint for 49 years until it was recently forced to switch over to Pepsi, Thanoukos-Milson said. 

Even her mother, Ann Thanoukos, who often works front-of-house at the restaurant, met Thanoukos in Hub’s. She was enjoying fries and a milkshake one day when he came to her table and struck up a conversation, Ann said. 

Hub’s eventually expanded its Skokie footprint three times, opened a second location at 5540 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago in 1982, and then a third location in Chicago’s Old Town in the late ’80s, Thanoukos-Milson said.

That third location was eventually bought and closed by another entity. 

Afterward, the brothers split the business and John Thanoukos, who has since passed, took over the Chicago location while Thanokous stayed in Skokie. Now, the Chicago Hub’s is operated separately by John’s side of the family, Thanoukos-Milson said

‘You like-a the juice?’

People who have never once set foot inside a Hub’s restaurant may still recognize its stark red and yellow logo. The eatery was the setting of a now-famous 1993 SNL sketch featuring Jason Alexander, Mike Myers, Rob Schneider, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley and others. 

The bit — which features Hub’s workers repeatedly asking Alexander “You like-a the juice?” with amusement — was composed by SNL writers who apparently became familiar with the restaurant when it had a spot near Chicago’s The Second City comedy club.

As Thanoukos-Milson understands it, Hub’s gyros vendor, who has since passed, knew an NBC executive whom he convinced to visit the restaurant to meet the Thanoukos brothers

The executive apparently “got a kick out of” the brothers and pitched a sketch to the SNL crew who were already familiar with the restaurant as many knew it from their days at Second City.

The notoriety that came with the break-out sketch and its sequel was surprising and brought a surge of business to the restaurant, Thanoukos-Milson said. 

Regardless of the national fame, however, the restaurant has become loved for its local ties and family atmosphere, Thanoukos-Milson said. 

A “Little League Wall” carries photographs of patrons and their children throughout the years, and families sometimes fly in to hold reunions at the Skokie restaurant, Thanoukos-Milson said.

During the pandemic, Hub’s put out chairs in its parking lot to continue feeding the public. 

Now, while Thanoukos continues to work the stoves, phones, and everything in between at Hub’s, his son, Bill, is there in the kitchen with him. 

“He’s built such a successful business for over 50 years now, that means the world,” Bill Thanoukos said of the anniversary. “He’s the epitome of the American Dream.”

Thanuoukos elaborated on that dream via email:

“I love Greece, but America is my country. I came here with two dollars and a dream, and I was able to build a business and a beautiful family. My kids grew up in this restaurant, and so many other kids did too. Now, they come back as parents and grandparents.

“They are happy to see my family is still here, and I am happy to see them. We talk about old stories, and they show their faces to their own children on our ‘Little League Wall.’ That is a good life.”

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